Residents ‘not surprised’ their councils have worst council housing complaints in UK

Damning figures have revealed that two South London boroughs are in the top three areas of the whole country for housing complaints.

Stats from the local government watchdog show that Southwark and Lambeth have the second and third highest number of housing complaints in England respectively.

The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman released data this week that shows the number of complaints about local authorities it has received in the last year.

The Ombudsman received 204 housing complaints about Lambeth council, and 154 about Southwark – figures only beaten by Birmingham City council.

The Ombudsman is the final stage for complaints about councils, which means it only deals with the most serious cases.

Sheila Simpson, 59, lives next door to a council house in Springall Street in Peckham. Cockroaches and rats were getting into her house from a council flat next door that had been left in a mess for five years.

Southwark council, which manages the property, was unable to confirm why it had been left to deteriorate, and only recently cleared the flat.

Ms Simpson said: “From my experience one person in the council tells someone to do something and they just say no.

“This is why these figures makes sense. I’m not even a council tenant and I’m complaining about housing.

“I’m sorry for those people who rely on the council for their home.” 

Jane Philby, 53, of South Oak Road, Streatham, lives with her two daughters and three grandchildren in a three-bedroom house.

Lambeth council left the family-of-six in a council house without repair for almost two months after one of the rooms was burnt out by a fire.

Ms Philby explained that the council had sent electricians to look at the wiring after her previous complaints, but after they explained the problem to her nobody came back to fix it.

In response to the new data from the Ombudsman, Ms Philby said: “I think Lambeth pick and choose who they help.

“We don’t get a lot of help here. A lot of the residents on this estate don’t get a lot of help, so I’m not surprised by this.

“The window is still melted in our home, we were told three to four weeks to get a new window, tomorrow is the target date and I haven’t heard anything yet.”

Southwark councillor Stephanie Cryan, cabinet member for homes, communities and finance, said: “Nothing is more important to us than ensuring our residents live in safe and comfortable homes.

“But as the biggest social landlord in London, and the fourth largest in the UK, the challenges we face are enormous, with growing demands and shrinking resources.

“We are determined to learn from every problem or challenge, and ensure we constantly improve and adapt our processes.

“As an organisation we welcome all feedback from our residents and visitors to the borough, however what is important is that we continue to learn from our complaints and ensure we use all feedback to improve services.”

A spokesman from Lambeth council said:“These are disappointing figures and we are determined to improve. This report gives valuable insights that will contribute to ongoing work at the council aimed at improving our customer service.

 “Lambeth is one of the country’s biggest social landlords with 33,000 council homes, which means we are always potentially among the organisations with the most complaints in this area.

 “The 84 housing complaints we’ve received is a significant number, and we are working hard to best meet the needs of our tenants and committed to improvement. However it is worth noting that of those complaints only 16 were upheld by the Ombudsman.”

Pictured top: From left, Lucy, Nancy, Zoe, William, Alfie and Jane Philby/ Sheila Simpson (Picture: Jane Philby/ Sheila Simpson)